Be Broadband upgrading their networks for IPv6

Customers of Be Broadband can expect a lot of changes heading their way. The broadband provider has a lot of changes and upgrades planned; most, if not all, of which will help improve the overall experience of the user.

Be Broadband is planning to revamp its entire core network in order to increase bandwidth and prepare for the upcoming transition to IPv6. This is good news, as it means that users can expect faster speeds and better services overall. However, a lot of people complain when it comes to systems maintenance and upgrades such as these, because service outages and failures are often encountered–but, of course, this is to be expected.

Be Broadband explained that the upgrade will be able to improve the network’s capacity to respond during service interruptions. The upgrades have been planned to be set up early next year and will go on for a duration of about six to seven months. Be has said that “both dynamic and static IP addresses [will] also [be] changing” during the time of the upgrade.

In a blog, Be Broadband stated: “As we are effectively building a new ‘core’ network, we’ll need to migrate everyone across from the existing network, the result being a small amount of downtime to the broadband service, and a change to everyone’s IP addresses.” The move will be done gradually in order to decrease the strain, so old and new IP addresses will be supported at the same time for around 30 days.

It is common knowledge that some ISPs rent network infrastructure from other providers; so Be Broadband decided to be direct about it and made it clear that the upgrades will only be rolled out at the infrastructure they own.

Another change the company is planning to make is with regards to how static IP addresses are allocated. Instead of arranging multiple static IP addresses by blocks of 4, 18, and 16, the blocks will now be made to follow industry standards and be arranged in blocks of 1, 6, and 14.

In the same blog post, Be Broadband added: “There’ll be no change to our current pricing, however, with an allocation of six being priced the same as the current four, and 14 the same price as the existing block of 16. Those customers currently using either four or eight addresses will have their allocation changed to six and for those using 16 the allocation will be reduced to 14.”

Be Broadband has assured its user base and customers that they will be receiving timely updates with regards to the status and progress of the upgrades, saying: “All Be members will be receiving emails regarding this over the coming months, detailing how it will affect them and what action they need to take.”

Source – ZDNet UK